Natural air enery saving temperature assist system for central air conditioning / heating system

ABSTRACT

A house air conditioning system that operates with outside air. The air conditioning system closes the house and uses air conditioning, when the outside temperature is lower than the inside house air temperature the air conditioning system is turned off, the house or building is opened to the outside and the cooler outside air is drawn through the house using fans. In the morning, before sunrise, the fans will draw outside cool air in from the outside to cool the thermal mass of the house and then closes the house as the outside air heats to trap the cool air within the house to delay air conditioning operation and reduce the overall amount of AC runtime energy required to cool the house. This system can also operate in reverse to heat the home. The system uses multiple sensors and control mechanism to ensure optimal energy savings.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Provisional 60/958,901 filed Jul.9, 2007 the entire contents of which is hereby expressly incorporated byreference herein.

DESCRIPTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to improvements and energy savings in HVAC. Moreparticularly, the present HVAC system uses a combination of householdair conditioning and heating with outside naturally heated and cold airto conserve energy by operating the household HVAC with house openingand fans to conserve energy. The system uses multiple sensors andcontrol mechanism to ensure optimal energy savings.

2. Background of the Invention

Most houses use either an air conditioning system to cool a house, orattic fan that draws air in from the outside and through the house. Inmany cases a home owner will operate an air conditioning system whilethe outside temperature is colder than the air within a house. Thisresults in a waste of electricity. Some homeowners recognize thedifference in the temperature and will manually shut off the airconditioning and open windows to cool a house with free cooler outsideair. While this results in an improvement the widows are often left openafter the outside temperature has heated the house before they close thewindows or they let the air conditioning continue to run in the eveninghours when the outside air has cooled to lower than the desiredtemperature. Some patents have been issued that either operate airconditioning systems, whole house fans, or systems that air conditiondifferent rooms at different times of the day. These systems require thehouse to be built or significantly modified to operate. Exemplaryexamples of house air conditioning systems are disclosed herein.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,073 issued Jun. 30, 1987 to Carl Lawrence, U.S. Pat.No. 5,902,183 issued May 11, 1999 to Melanius D'Souza and U.S. Pat. No.4,986,469 issued Jan. 2, 1981 to James A. Sutton Jr. all disclose an aircirculation system that turn on or off fans to move outside air throughan enclosure. These fans use inside/outside temperature sensor ortime-of-day timers to operate the fans. While these patents disclose anair circulation system that ventilates a building with outside air thesystems do not work with an air conditioning system to open and closethe building to achieve energy savings.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,575 issued Mar. 30, 1976 to Russell L. Barr et aland U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,385 issued Oct. 11, 1988 to Arthur C. Dean bothdisclose a house air conditioning system that opens and closes ductingto use outside air. These patents require the house to be pre-built withthe ducts to alter where air is drawn through a building. The use ofducting further eliminates the possibility that outside air cannaturally be blown through a building or house without any fans usingthe wind or thermal vertical movement of air.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,494 issued May 29, 2007 to Mark W. Peterson et aldiscloses an Adaptive Intelligent Circulation Control Methods andSystems. This system also requires a house or building to be constructedwith ducting for outside air. The system has a number of sensors locatedboth inside and outside of the house to improve the comfort within thehouse and reduce energy costs. The system can operate under a userdefined program or in random sequence.

What is needed is a system that operates with a pre-constructed houseand existing central HVAC system. While a user could manually open andclose widows to obtain similar energy savings, but the value of thenatural air energy saving system is that it automatically performs theoperation without a user having to physically or mentally determine whatwindows and fans to operate and at what times of day and whattemperatures. The system should use as a minimum of one inside and oneoutside temperature sensor, a house air conditioning system a fan and anactuator or servo to open and close an outside vent. The proposedapplication provides these functions in an expandable manner that allowsa homeowner to achieve energy savings with an expandable system that canbe used with an existing home.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the natural air energy saving system to reduce thetotal time that an air conditioning system needs to run to provide thesame comfort all day. This is accomplished by automatically openingwindows or vents and operating a fan or fans in a house or building whenthe outside are is cooler than the inside air. The “free” cooler outsideair is drawn or blown thought the house instead of operating an airconditioner to cool the inside of the house

It is an object of the natural air energy saving system to allow a houseair conditioner to spend less time running nonstop, and more running incycles which provides overall better efficiency of electricity. Thereduction in air conditioning usage will increase air conditioner lifespan since it reduces system strain. The reduction of electricity usewill also reduce energy procurement costs during peak demand hours, soit will result in lower costs for all. The reduced demand forelectricity will reduce energy generation impact on environment.

It is another object of the natural air energy saving system to includeremote location activation using existing phone lines, or an internetconnection that can start the natural air process while away or beforelocation arrival of occupants. This is particularly useful when theoccupants are away and a house is warming throughout the day, but theoccupants want the house aired out or cooled prior to arrival.

It is another object of the natural air energy saving system for thesystem to run in three modes remote, automatic, or manual. The systemcan be switched off so the thermostat can operate as an ordinaryprogrammable thermostat.

It is still another object of the natural air energy saving system forthe system to allow natural air evacuation process can be started viasetting programmable timer in the thermostat reducing the arrivaltemperature and reducing the time the air conditioner will need to runto achieve desired temperature.

It is another object of the natural air energy saving system to providea safer indoor environment by windows and doors being able to be closedduring evening and night time hours while still being able to enjoyfresh natural outside air.

It is another object of the natural air energy saving system to operatewith any existing air conditioning/heating system that currently uses acentral air thermostat. The system connects indoor and outdoor sensorswith controls for fans, actuators, servos and vents using communicationsover pre-existing power lines and or a wireless network to simplifyinstallation.

Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with theaccompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a house or building with the natural air energy savingsystem.

FIG. 2 shows the outside and inside temperature of a house or buildingusing the natural air energy saving system.

FIG. 3 shows an illustration of user interface for the natural airenergy saving system.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of some components of the natural airenergy saving system.

FIG. 5 shows a simplified flow chart of the natural air energy savingsystem operating in the saving mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a house or building with the natural air energy savingsystem. The natural air energy saving system includes a special purposebuilt multi-programmable thermostat, that is shown and described indetail with FIG. 3, with interior temperature sensor, an air evacuationvent and fan that can be either hard wired or wireless relay activatedby said thermostat, and an outdoor temperature sensor that can also behardwired or wirelessly transmit temperature readings to saidthermostat, the outdoor sensor must be installed in a way that it isalways shaded so it does not give false readings, all windows must beclosed and adequate insulation is a must for this system to work best.

The way the system works is the outdoor sensor sends a constant readingto the thermostat. During summer months, where cooling is moreimportant, the thermostat will activate the Natural Air fan and ventwhen the outdoor temperatures are at the lowest point of the day,usually just before dawn. The activation will be within a few lowestdegrees and will bring the indoor temperature to its lowest possibledaily temperature. Once the thermostat senses a one degree rise intemperature from the outdoor sensor, the fan will stop and the vent willclose. The indoor location and all of its contents will start the day ata much lower temperature or thermal mass, usually 30 to 40 or moredegrees than the projected high for the day. This will allow thethermostat to go a lot longer into the day before turning on the airconditioner at their programmed desired temperature. It will be able tocycle longer into the day and will spend less time in a constant runresulting in less overall run time and more efficiency. In the eveninghours, the thermostat will read the outdoor sensor and when it sensesthe outdoor temperature is below the desired programmed indoortemperature, the air conditioner will turn off and the evacuation fanand vent will activate and de-activate as needed to maintain the desiredtemperature through the night with natural air. When the outdoortemperature drops to its lowest point. The process will start all overagain as programmed.

The dynamics of this system can be used in reverse order for benefits inthe colder winter season. It is important to remember that the ventallows in as much air as the fan evacuates however, on production modelsthis could be made to be adjustable depending on the size of the desiredarea. On larger applications, larger vents and fans could be used toachieve the same results, or multiples of vents and fans. An additionaloutdoor temperature sensor can be used to give the thermostat a multipleview of outside ambient temperature. More detailed description of thevarious components is shown and described with the figures herein.

FIG. 1 shows a house or building with the natural air energy savingsystem. From FIG. 1 the lower main vent 10, and the evacuation fan 20blowing into the attic, the outdoor sensor 30 is hanging under one ofthe eaves so as to not get direct sun. The programmable natural airthermostat 40 is where one would expect a thermostat to be, near thecenter of the house, a second evacuation fan 50 if needed for a largerattic can be installed in a gable mount, finally, in a even larger homeapplication, an additional evacuation fan 60 might be needed for an evenlarger location, larger commercial buildings will require largerequipment to achieve the same results but the desired result is thesame. an automatic temperature energy maximization system that gets alocation and all of its contents to a maximum opposite temperature ofthe expected opposite temperature, that adds up to shorter airconditioning 15 run times, in most cases, only one relay servo operatedvent would be required as different sizes would be available and wouldbest be put high enough up not to invite a break in. also a steel grateor grill could be installed to protect the opening. The air conditioner15 is shown as a window mounted AC units but could also be a centralHVAC unit.

FIG. 2 shows the outside and inside temperature of a house or buildingusing the natural air energy saving system. On the abscissa the graphshows the temperature in degrees F. The ordinate shows the time of daystarting at midnight. The temperature difference between isapproximately 35 degrees in this graph. For simplicity the set pointtemperature is set to 75 degrees. In practicality the thermostat wouldbe set to one temperature when the house is occupied and a differenttemperature when the house is vacant. The graph shows the outsidetemperature 70 in a solid line and the inside house temperature 71 in abroken line.

Starting at midnight the outside temperature 70 begins at about 65degrees. Since the house set temperature is 75 degrees, the insidetemperature 71 is maintained by operation of windows and or fans tomaintain the temperature. Bracket 73 shows this period of time fornatural ventilation of the house during this period. Because a goal isto provide use the cooler outside air while maintaining a “tolerable”inside temperature bracket 75 provides a period cool down before the sunrises and the temperature climbs. During this period of time the housevents are opened and fans pull or push the coolest outside air throughthe house to reduce the thermal mass of the house until the outsidetemperature equals the inside temperature at the intersection ofbrackets 75 and 74 when all the fans are turned off and all the ventsare closed. For the time under bracket 74 the outside temperature 70rises and the inside temperature 71 of the house rises until the setpoint temperature is reached and the house air conditioning systemoperates, under bracket 72. After the sun goes down the outsidetemperature drops until the outside temperature 70 matches the insidetemperature 71 when the windows, vents and or fans are operated tomaintain the temperature again as shown under bracket 73.

FIG. 3 shows an illustration of user interface for the natural airenergy saving system. This interface is only one contemplated embodimentof the control system. This display shows the inside temperature 80 andthe outside temperature 81. The time of day 83 and the day of the week84 is shown to allow for unique programming for different days or dayswhen occupants are present in the house. The display also shows thestatus of fans and vents 86 located around the house. A home owner canmanually operate the fans and vents using buttons 88 knobs or similarcontrols. A similar set of buttons or knobs 82 allows the user to setthe temperatures and or functions of the system. One portion of thedisplay 85 indicates the operations status. The status conditionsinclude but are not limited to off, automatic, manual and a save modethat operates without the house air conditioning system. The natural airenergy saving system operates either with an existing house airconditioning and control system or as a replacement control system. Whenthe system works with an existing HVAC the supplemental natural airenergy saving controller can autonomously turn the prior existing HVACcontroller on or off. An indicator 87 identifies when the system isoperating the HVAC system. In one contemplated embodiment the outsidetemperature sensor also includes a wind direction sensor that allows thesystem to open windows on opposite sides of a house to allows naturalprevailing wind to blow though a house without using powered fans tofurther reduce energy consumption.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of some components of the natural airenergy saving system. This block diagram shows communications overhousehold wiring and or with wireless data communications. Each fan orwindow/vent actuator or servo has its own unique electronic identifierso the system can open, close, turn on, or turn off each component.Since each device is powered by household electricity the use of ACpower line communications and control is ideal for the system. ACelectricity 100 comes into the house from a power grid of from solar orother sources. Each control unit uses a power converter of transformer101 of one type or another to power the controller or control system102. The controller 102 has a display 103, and encoder 105 and or atransmitter 104. In the preferred embodiment the encoder 105 encodes asignal onto the AC power line that is common throughout the house. Thecontroller 102 is shown wired 107 to the existing household HVAC 106.

Two separate controlled devices 108 and 109 are shown in this figure.One control device 108 is shown as an actuator or servo that opens andcloses a window, door, vent or other apparatus. The other control device109 is shown as a fan. Each controlled device 108 and 109 has a uniqueID that the controller 102 can identify. When a command is encoded 105onto the power line the decoder in each controlled device 108 and 109will decode 110 the signal and respond based upon the command to changethe status of the device (fan 111 or actuator 112). This change can beviewed on this display as item 86 in FIG. 3. Optionally the commands canbe transmitted wirelessly using antenna 104 and received by antennas114. The outside temperature sensor 30 and or wind direction sensortransmits a wireless signal 104 to the controller 102.

FIG. 5 shows a simplified flow chart of the natural air energy savingsystem operating in the saving mode. This is a simplified flow chartshowing the control sequence from the graph in FIG. 2 and the house isbeing used in a cooling mode as opposed to a heating mode. In thissequence the household HVAC is operational. Starting with question 120that determines if the outside temperature is cooler than the insidetemperature. If the outside temperature is hotter than the insidetemperature then the system will use an existing air conditioning system121 to, or the existing HVAC is operated.

Once the outside temperature is cooler than the inside temperature ofthe house the natural air energy saving system begins to operate. Toprovide extra savings the system will open windows and or vent at thecoolest time of the day. The coolest time of the day is determined bytracking when the outside temperature intersects the inside temperature(intersection of bracket 74 and 75 in FIG. 2) and subtracting time. Thesystem can also be programmed with the sunrise times based on zip code,time of year or similar algorithm. If the coolest time of day is present(2 house before sunrise in this example) 122 the system will openwindows, vents and turn on fans 123 to cool the interior thermal mass ofthe house to increase cooling efficiency within the house.

Normally in the evening the system will operate in decision sequence 124where the system will regulate the temperature within the house byopening and closing windows or vents and turning on 125 or off 126 fansto maintain the temperature within the house. Numerous similar optionsare contemplated to provide maximum cooling though the evening withoutregulating the temperature until sunrise. These options are impliedlyincluded in this disclosure.

Thus, specific embodiments of a natural air energy saving system havebeen disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in theart that many more modifications besides those described are possiblewithout departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventivesubject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spiritof the appended claims.

1. A natural air energy saving system comprising: a structure that iscooled or heated; at least one temperature sensor located within saidstructure and at least one temperature sensor located external from saidstructure; an existing heating or air conditioning system; at least oneuser installable fan; at least one user installable actuator or servo; aprogrammable control that can autonomously turn said existing heating orair condition system on or off, and said programmable controller canoperate said at least one user installable fan and said at least oneuser installable actuator or service to maintain a temperature withinsaid structure.
 2. The natural air energy saving system according toclaim 1 wherein said structure is a house, building or residence.
 3. Thenatural air energy saving system according to claim 1 wherein said userinstallable actuator or servo opens an existing window, door or vent onsaid structure.
 4. The natural air energy saving system according toclaim 1 wherein said programmable controller further includes an encoderthat sends signals over AC power lines.
 5. The natural air energy savingsystem according to claim 4 wherein operation of said at least one userinstallable fan and said at least one user installable servo or actuatoris controlled from a signal from said programmable controller over theexisting power line that powers said at least one user installable fanand said at least one user installable servo or actuator.
 6. The naturalair energy saving system according to claim 1 wherein said programmablecontroller further includes a wireless transmitter.
 7. The natural airenergy saving system according to claim 6 wherein operation of said atleast one user installable fan and said at least one user installableservo or actuator is controlled from a signal from said programmablecontroller from said wireless transmitter.
 8. The natural air energysaving system according to claim 1 wherein said system can determinewhen the an outside temperature will change in the future and operatesaid at least one user installable fan and said at least one userinstallable servo or actuator to alter a temperature within saidstructure.
 9. The natural air energy saving system according to claim 1that further includes a wind direction indicator.
 10. The natural airenergy saving system according to claim 9 wherein said system uses saidwind direction indicator to open and or close said windows, vents ordoors based upon prevailing wind direction.
 11. A natural air energysaving system comprising: a structure that is cooled or heated; at leastone temperature sensor located within said structure and at least onetemperature sensor located external from said structure; at least oneuser installable fan; at least one user installable actuator or servo; apowered air heating and or air cooling device; a programmable controlwherein said programmable controller optimizes the use of air outsidesaid structure with said powered air heating and or air cooling devicewith operation of said at least one user installable fan and said atleast one user installable actuator or service to maintain a temperaturewithin said structure.
 12. The natural air energy saving systemaccording to claim 11 wherein said structure is a house, building orresidence.
 13. The natural air energy saving system according to claim11 wherein said user installable actuator or servo opens an existingwindow, door or vent on said structure.
 14. The natural air energysaving system according to claim 11 wherein said programmable controllerfurther includes an encoder that sends signals over AC power lines. 15.The natural air energy saving system according to claim 14 whereinoperation of said at least one user installable fan and said at leastone user installable servo or actuator is controlled from a signal fromsaid programmable controller over the existing power line that powerssaid at least one user installable fan and said at least one userinstallable servo or actuator.
 16. The natural air energy saving systemaccording to claim 11 wherein said programmable controller furtherincludes a wireless transmitter.
 17. The natural air energy savingsystem according to claim 16 wherein operation of said at least one userinstallable fan and said at least one user installable servo or actuatoris controlled from a signal from said programmable controller from saidwireless transmitter.
 18. The natural air energy saving system accordingto claim 11 wherein said system can determine when the an outsidetemperature will change in the future and operate said at least one userinstallable fan and said at least one user installable servo or actuatorto alter a temperature within said structure.
 19. The natural air energysaving system according to claim 11 that further includes a winddirection indicator.
 20. The natural air energy saving system accordingto claim 19 wherein said system uses said wind direction indicator toopen and or close said windows, vents or doors based upon prevailingwind direction.